Tender Outboard - Honda BF50

[ArranP]

Tender flooded to above battery level due to lots of rain, emptied water, tried to start engine but stater motor contactor is not activating.

On further inspection, found that the starter motor contactor messenger negative cable is at 12V, so bypassed cable and connected to chasis negative for now. Contactor is now working and engine starts.

Any idea what is causing or why the contactor messenger negative cable is at 12V ? maybe a short somewhere or something to do with the alternator excitor cable maybe ?

[ArranP]

Originally Posted by ArranP

Tender flooded to above battery level due to lots of rain, emptied water, tried to start engine but stater motor contactor is not activating.

On further inspection, found that the starter motor contactor messenger negative cable is at 12V, so bypassed cable and connected to chasis negative for now. Contactor is now working and engine starts.

Any idea what is causing or why the contactor messenger negative cable is at 12V ? maybe a short somewhere or something to do with the alternator excitor cable maybe ?

The answer, the starter motor contactor messenger negative cable is at 12V when the neutral switch is not active, this is to prevent the starter motor engaging when transmission is not in neutral. Engine will not start when in gear.

Owners Manual PDF last pages are the wiring diagrams.
https://www.vio.it/wp-content/upload...ione-BF40D.pdf